Supervisors play a vital role in student growth and are essential to creating a supportive work environment where student employees can thrive.
To support student employees, consider these key supervision practices that improve their experience:
- Offer regular feedback and guidance
- Link student work to their academic and career goals
- Use resources like Supervising Today's Students and Iowa GROW®
- Provide opportunities for students to take the lead and initiate projects
By offering thoughtful mentorship and development-focused supervision, you help students build confidence, gain valuable skills, and make progress toward their academic and professional goals — reinforcing Iowa's commitment to student success.
2026 Spring Break and Wage Survey
2026 Spring Break and Wage Survey
Iowa law allows student hourly employees to work up to 40 hours per week during spring break, March 15–21, 2026.
Spring break hours count toward the 680 maximum allowable hours for the academic year monitoring period: Aug. 31, 2025–May 9, 2026. Summer, Thanksgiving, winter, and spring breaks are the only employment periods in which student hourly employees can work up to 40 hours per week. Students who work more than 40 hours per week will be paid overtime at the department's expense.
Work-Study employers should be aware of the student's remaining Work-Study eligibility before allowing them to earn overtime during spring break. Employers may prefer to keep the hours limited in order to use Work-Study eligibility throughout the remainder of the academic year appointment period, ending on May 16, 2026.
For help tracking Work-Study earnings and remaining eligibility, go to Employee Self-Service > Human Resources System > ePersonnel File (Direct Reports).
The Hourly Wage Survey has been updated on the webpage with Fall 2025 information.
- The overall average rate of pay for students hired under a Biweekly Student Continuous appointment is $14.24 per hour. For Work-Study, it's $13.22 per hour.
- The overall most frequent rate of pay for students hired under a Biweekly Continuous appointment, as well as for Work-Study, is $12 per hour.